News & Updates

Love and money get a long look

On Tuesday, July 23, Movie Night at the Museum will feature the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. The 1953 film tells the story of three New York models who share the same dream: to find and marry a millionaire. To accomplish their goal, they move into an upscale New York apartment and begin their quest. They quickly discover that having money doesn’t necessarily mean having good character or good looks.

However, some excellent possibilities do enter the picture including William Powell, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, and Cameron Mitchell. As relationships develop the three women all face the same dilemma: Does a life of luxury trump a life with true love?

The film was the first film shot in CinemaScope at Twentieth Century Fox. But the film’s release was delayed until after Fox released the biblical epic “The Robe,” the second film produced by the studio using the process.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are accepted to help defray the costs of Movie Night. Soda, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers are welcome to bring their own cushions or seating.

Marking its 25-year anniversary, the Northwest Montana History Museum brings the past alive through exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through August) at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. For information call 406-756-8381.

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A sea story hits the air

Whenever Alexis Allers contacts us from KGEZ with an invitation to a time slot, we love to go into the downtown Kalispell studio to talk about current and upcoming happenings at the museum.

This week museum volunteers Ken and Mary Miers (from right) and KGEZ hosts (from left) John Hendricks and Robin Mitchell discussed the museum’s newest exhibit, which the Mierses helped bring to fruition.

The Silent Service: A WWII Diving Denizen of the Deep showcases a Kalispell native’s harrowing underwater ordeal along with other features of submarines, such as sea dogs. Come to the museum and see this unique offering, especially if you missed the discussion about it on the air.

There’s always something new to see, do, and browse at the Northwest Montana History Museum! KGEZ, with its similar focus on the local and regional news, keeps helping us spread the word.

Thank you!

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Southern Gothic plays out onscreen

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, Movie Night at the Museum will feature A Streetcar Named Desire, the film that turned a Broadway actor into a movie star. The 1951 Southern Gothic drama was adapted from a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tennessee Williams. Under the direction of Elia Kazan, the black and white film features Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.

Brando, Hunter, and Malden all reprised their original Broadway roles, but Jessica Tandy, who had played Blanche DuBois on stage was replaced by Leigh to bring more star power to the film. The film moved Marlon Brando from relative obscurity to prominence as a major Hollywood film star. He received an Academy Award nomination (the first of four) for Best Actor while Leigh won her second Oscar for playing DuBois.

Doors open 6:30 pm. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are welcomed to defray costs. Soda pop, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers can bring their own cushions or seating if they choose.

Marking its 25-year anniversary in 2024, the Northwest Montana History Museum presents a wide range of exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Call 406-756-8381 or visit nwmthistory.org.

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What’s it worth? Find out this fall

In October, people from the Foundation for Montana History come to visit, bringing with them their distinctive fundraiser for a day of engaging information and entertainment as experts take a look at individuals’ standout treasures and give a ballpark value.

According to the foundation, “This event allows participants to bring their fine art, collectibles, toys, heirlooms, and other interesting/valuable items to a select venue for verbal evaluation from our expert appraiser and auctioneer.”

On Saturday, Oct. 26, that “select venue” is the Northwest Montana History Museum for this year’s Montana Antiques Appraisal Fair. Foundation for Montana History board members Tim Gordon (pictured) and Grant Zahajko will serve as the consulting professionals set to come to Kalispell to check out our stuff.

Missoula-based appraiser Gordon specializes in art, celebrity collectibles, and items of Western history. Auctioneer Zahajko leans to sports cards, comic books, and toys and collectibles. Both, however, are open to looking at any and all interesting, valuable objects. Both call themselves “expert generalists” and have appeared on television providing expertise and values.

Keep an eye out for details to come, but for now please alert us to an item or two that the foundation’s appraiser and auctioneer can consider and publicly give a value for midmorning and midafternoon of the Oct. 26 event. Contact Margaret at the museum to nominate your item.

At last year’s event in Helena, for example, one of the publicly appraised marquee items was a saddle made of silver.

The appraiser and auctioneer will do their work on the second floor of the museum, so space is limited and items must be easily loadable using the building’s north side ramp and elevator. The event welcomes treasures of all kinds except for firearms, chemicals, or jewelry.

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Museum presents a Kalispell native’s underwater ordeal

The Northwest Montana History Museum recently received a donation of military memorabilia that includes a harrowing story from Harry Anderson, a Kalispell native and 1940 graduate of Flathead High School (he is at far right in the front row).

Anderson served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service during World War II. Assigned to the USS Perch SS-313, Ensign Anderson and crew survived a grueling, two-hour depth charge attack in the Java Sea while on patrol in April 1945. Anderson recorded the 31 depth charges dropped on the submarine in real time with tick marks on a piece of paper (shown).

That faint and fragile paper, along with Ensign Anderson’s personal account of the two-hour attack, went on display May 10 at the museum as part of the exhibit The Silent Service: A WWII Diving Denizen of the Deep.

The exhibit includes Anderson’s gold dolphins pin (awarded to officers) and his combat pin of a successful patrol, along with other medals. Numerous photos enhance the exhibit: the crew of the Perch; Perch officers on deck with one holding Duchess, the submarine’s dog; and Duchess standing on a deck gun.

Were dogs allowed on board during tours of duty? Find out more about the dogs that went on patrol with their crew at the exhibit.

In addition to Ensign Anderson’s memorabilia, other submariner items are on display: a Vietnam era U.S. Navy Submariner Torpedoman’s dress uniform, a child’s sailor uniform from the 1940s, vintage sailor hats and other related submarine items.

Details: Regular museum hours run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays from June through August

Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell; 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org

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A classic cues up musical fantasy

Beautiful music. Dancing hippos, ostriches, elephants, and alligators. Waltzing flowers. Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s apprentice. All are memorable segments of the Disney classic Fantasia, which screens for Movie Night at the Museum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 28. The 1940 production features eight animated segments set to classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

What began in 1938 as Walt Disney’s idea for a “Silly Symphony” cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse grew into a full-length animated feature film with Fantasound, a pioneer sound system developed by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo. For many Americans, the movie also was an introduction to classical music.

The film opened to critical acclaim but failed to make a profit, partly due to the loss of European distribution during World War II. Since 1942, the film has been reissued many times and is now ranked as the 58th greatest American film in the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 movies. It was also selected for preservation by the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Doors open 6:30 p.m. Admission and popcorn are free, but donations are gladly accepted to defray costs. Soda pop, water, beer, and wine are available for purchase. Seating is provided, but viewers can bring their own cushions or seating if they like.

Celebrating its 25-year anniversary in 2024, the Northwest Montana History Museum brings the past alive through exhibits, artifacts, educational programs, and events. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. Call 406-756-8381 or visit nwmthistory.org.

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Presidential visits continue

On the heels of a standing-room-only visit from President Abraham Lincoln in February (brought to us by Chuck Johnson), we have Theodore Roosevelt riding this way next week. Catch a presentation with him 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, followed by banter and Q&A with the audience and Flathead Valley Teddy Roosevelt buff (and former Montana secretary of state and senator) Bob Brown.

Bring a lunch (many fine downtown Kalispell restaurants nearby offer order-ahead and takeout service, such as Bonelli’s), then spend some time at the museum with a historical figure brought to life by Joe Wiegand. As Wiegand says, the program is “TR-iffic,” and we look forward to seeing you here.

Thank you to our friends at Rotary for making this event possible!

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Get schooled in “school”

Have you heard this catchy tune written in 1907 by Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards?

School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
’Reading and ’riting and ’rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick

Rekindle memories of school days of yore, or explore what it was like for kids years ago, at a new temporary exhibit, Timeless Lessons at Central School 1894-1969, opening at the Northwest Montana History Museum. The exhibit celebrates 75 years of formal instruction at Kalispell’s Central School—now home to the museum—and features an array of classroom items that represent various time periods throughout those years. The exhibit through December 2024.

The classroom exhibit includes a teacher’s desk with a 1925 report card and a confiscated slingshot, a poster that adorned a Central School classroom in the 1930s (above), an 1897 ledger of school attendance and grades written in beautiful penmanship, a chalkboard eraser, 1937 poster artwork to supplement lesson assignments, vintage games played during indoor and outdoor recesses, a 46-star United States flag, and a 1950s microphone used by school choirs. In addition, the exhibit is enhanced by a display of vintage clothing worn by a teacher and students.

A hands-on area for children completes the exhibit. Among the activities are practicing cursive writing, viewing replicas of turn of the century 3D travel cards using a stereoscope and learning about different cultures through paper dolls.

The exhibit opens with free admission and refreshments 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 12.

Details:
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2024
Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 2nd Ave. E., Kalispell, MT 59901; 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org

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Demo days begin

Our oldest exhibit, Sand Monkeys, Tie Hacks, and River Pigs, is closed for renovation. Don’t worry: It will still focus on the timber industry when it reopens this summer, but now will include a model train layout that includes the Somers tie plant and 3D models of Kalispell landmarks!

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

All other exhibits remain open.

Above: Board members (from left) Rod Wallette, Bill Dakin, and Alex Berry as well as Casey Malmquist from SmartLam measure up the museum elevator in advance of the renovation of our “timber room,” now under way.

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